Institute of Health Behaviors and Community Sciences, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Department of Counseling Psychology and Human Resource Development, National Chi Nan University, Nantou, Taiwan.
Crisis. 2023 Nov;44(6):458-469. doi: 10.1027/0227-5910/a000877. Epub 2022 Aug 19.
The COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences may affect population mental health and suicide risk. To explore the experiences among suicidal individuals who made calls to a suicide prevention hotline and to identify factors and psychological responses that may influence suicide risk. We identified 60 eligible recorded calls to Taiwan's suicide prevention hotline (January 23, 2020-May 31, 2020) and analyzed the transcripts using a framework analysis. We identified three themes: (a) effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on society (impacts on local economies, the fear of contagion, and disruptions caused by outbreak control measures); (b) stress experienced by callers, including increased challenges (financial burden, restricted freedom of movement, interpersonal conflicts, feelings of uncertainty, and education/career interruption) and reduced support (reduced access to health services and social support); and (c) the callers' psychological responses to stress, including anxiety, sleep disturbance, depression, loneliness, hopelessness, and entrapment, which may increase suicide risk. Only the experiences among those who sought help by calling the hotline during the early months of the pandemic in 2020 were explored. Our findings revealed the potential process underlying the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on suicide risk and have implications for prevention and intervention strategies.
**新冠疫情及其后果可能影响人群心理健康和自杀风险。为了探讨向自杀预防热线致电的自杀个体的经历，并确定可能影响自杀风险的因素和心理反应，我们对 2020 年 1 月 23 日至 5 月 31 日台湾自杀预防热线的 60 个符合条件的录音电话进行了分析，采用框架分析法对转录本进行分析。我们确定了三个主题：（a）新冠疫情对社会的影响（对地方经济的影响、对感染的恐惧，以及疫情防控措施造成的干扰）；（b）来电者经历的压力，包括增加的挑战（经济负担、行动自由受限、人际冲突、不确定性感和教育/职业中断）和减少的支持（减少获得卫生服务和社会支持）；（c）来电者对压力的心理反应，包括焦虑、睡眠障碍、抑郁、孤独、绝望和困境，这些可能会增加自杀风险。本研究仅探讨了 2020 年疫情早期拨打热线寻求帮助的人群的经历。我们的研究结果揭示了新冠疫情对自杀风险影响的潜在过程，对预防和干预策略具有启示意义。
